Bill Clinton Hits The Fundraising Circuit

It sounds like some big time targets in the Democratic Party donor network will be hearing from a very familiar voice in the near future. As Politico detailed last week, the Hillary Clinton campaign is ramping up its fundraising efforts, and they're going to make use of arguably their biggest and most unique behind-the-scenes asset: Bill Clinton's starting a major fundraising push for Hillary's campaign, and it's a role he's uniquely well-suited for.

According to the AP, the Clinton campaign has already scheduled more than a dozen fundraising events throughout December, and they'll figure to bring in some serious cash. Byy any measure, the Clintons have about as stacked a deck in terms of fundraising as any of America's high-profile political families. As the Washington Post detailed in an investigation last week, the Clinton donor network has devoted more than $3 billion combined to the family's political campaigns and their foundation throughout the years.

And, as a former two-term president himself, Bill already has well-established personal ties to a slew of longtime Democratic donors, and knows all too well how to coax people's checkbooks out of their pockets. It's essentially a perfect fit for a towering former commander-in-chief, and it's a sure sign that he's gearing up for a full campaign season.

It remains to be seen if Bill keeps as high a profile on the campaign trail as he does on the fundraising circuit, however. Back in May, the Washington Post reported that Bill wasn't going to be actively campaigning in 2015, which provided good reason to wonder whether Hillary's campaign has some strategic concerns about his role. In 2008, Bill was an outspoken and long-winded surrogate, and that came with some benefits, but also some heavy costs. He drew the scorn of Obama-supporting progressives for a slew of critical, at-times condescending remarks he reportedly made about the then-Illinois senator.

And needless to say, Hillary badly needs the support of the Obama coalition to rise to victory come next November, so the way her ex-president husband is utilized throughout 2016 figures to be crucial. And, in spite of the mixed results back in 2008, it seems as though Bill's slowly stepping more into the bright lights of the campaign — he made his first campaign stump appearance of the 2016 cycle in Iowa in October, on the occasion of the Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, and even lead-in for Katy Perry. Hopefully for Hillary's sake, he's able to keep his occasionally combative style more in check this time around.